Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 2,077 Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 15.5%, selling 2,077 shares and holding a total of 11,307 shares worth approximately $3.37 million.
• Verisk Analytics recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $1.80 and a yield of 0.7%.
• Several analysts have set varied price targets for Verisk Analytics, with a consensus average target of $305.60, and ratings ranging from sell to outperform.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK - Free Report) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,307 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,077 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Verisk Analytics were worth $3,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,733,589 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,980,251,000 after purchasing an additional 239,483 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,639,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $451,628,000 after purchasing an additional 197,413 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 4.8% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,537,613 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $457,624,000 after purchasing an additional 70,571 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,421,008 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $391,389,000 after purchasing an additional 4,069 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Verisk Analytics by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,219,674 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $335,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verisk Analytics news, Director Samuel G. Liss sold 11,656 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.06, for a total transaction of $3,649,027.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 67,244 shares in the company, valued at $21,051,406.64. The trade was a 14.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.86, for a total transaction of $98,080.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,803,714.34. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,120 shares of company stock valued at $7,192,416. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRSK shares. Raymond James Financial set a $315.00 price objective on Verisk Analytics and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verisk Analytics from $317.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.60.

Verisk Analytics Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of VRSK stock opened at $265.04 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.34. The stock has a market cap of $37.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $300.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.08. Verisk Analytics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.17 and a 1 year high of $322.92.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $772.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.91 million. Verisk Analytics had a return on equity of 460.89% and a net margin of 30.67%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verisk Analytics, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verisk Analytics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Verisk Analytics's payout ratio is 27.73%.

About Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.

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